UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC Sells 162,721 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• UBS Asset Management reduced its stake in Global Payments by 9.8%, selling 162,721 shares, and now holds about 1,494,109 shares worth approximately $146.3 million.
• Global Payments reported earnings of $3.10 EPS for the quarter, slightly above analysts' expectations, with revenue matching estimates at $2.36 billion.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, which reflects an annualized yield of 1.2% and a payout ratio of 17.48%.

UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lowered its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 9.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,494,109 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 162,721 shares during the quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned about 0.61% of Global Payments worth $146,303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,334,097 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $816,075,000 after acquiring an additional 35,251 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in Global Payments by 77.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,001,585 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $186,107,000 after acquiring an additional 874,175 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Global Payments by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,955,393 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $191,451,000 after acquiring an additional 49,029 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Global Payments by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,624,288 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $159,050,000 after acquiring an additional 9,755 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 75,379.7% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $148,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,515,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. TD Cowen downgraded Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nineteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $112.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,641,318. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of GPN stock opened at $85.35 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $84.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%.The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Global Payments's payout ratio is presently 17.48%.

Global Payments Company Profile

Global Payments Inc provides payment technology and software solutions for card, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through two segments, Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization, settlement and funding, customer support, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security, and consolidated billing and reporting services.

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